Dr. Cheng Yan Davis served as Special Advisor to the President of Teachers College, Columbia University on international advancement. She is also Senior Advisor to Shanghai Pudong Government. Previously, Cheng worked at the University of Pennsylvania , where she was the Vice Dean of Graduate School of Education (GSE) as well as Special Advisor to the President of the University of Pennsylvania on internationalization efforts. She also served as Vice President of Drexel University.

Cheng was awarded the President Award for Excellent Leadership from Drexel University for her extraordinary achievement in international affairs. Being the first international student studying at the Penn GSE from China, Cheng has earned the first–ever Penn GSE Alumni Pioneers Award. In 2012, Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand awarded Cheng the Outstanding Leadership Award; Later, in 2017, she was given the Princess Maha Chakri Award to commend her for leading efforts in US-Thai Educational Roundtables.